Followers

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Integrity And Other Agendas by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar

The greatest tribute that Malaysians can pay to the memory
of Kevin Morais and others like him who had sacrificed their lives fighting
against the abuse of power is to protect and strengthen those institutions
tasked with ensuring that integrity and good governance define our identity as
a nation.

Each and every one of those institutions --- from the
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to Bank Negara --- is under some
sort of stress and strain today. Fulfilling their amanah (trust)
--- doing what they are required to do by law and convention --- has become a
major challenge. Why are they in such a situation today?

One, we continue to be burdened with a neo-feudal
psychology which accords precedence to unquestioning loyalty to a leader,
however wrong he may be, over allegiance to values, principles and institutions
associated with integrity. The neo-feudal leader himself expects such
blind loyalty and cultivates it assiduously through material rewards and
allurements.

Two, in a society where communal consciousness is pervasive
there is always a tendency among a significant segment of society to
demonstrate fidelity to communal identities, institutions and personalities.
Such fidelity often results in the subordination of values such as integrity
and honesty.

Three, when loyalty to communal identity becomes obsessive,
it is not difficult to whip up fear and hatred of the other to a point where
collective fear overwhelms concern for integrity or righteousness. The
manipulation of fear, by no means confined to ethnic and religious sentiments,
is sometimes a tool that elites employ in order to perpetuate their power.

Four, when a party has been dominant for a long while
--- as the Barisan Nasional was until 2008 --- and has not been held in check
by a culture of accountability and transparency, it develops a mindset that is
dismissive of anything that questions its exercise of power. Integrity is often
the victim of such a mindset.

Five, a major episode in the life of a nation that
devastates the integrity of a vital institution of governance can weaken the
principle and practice of amanah in society as a whole for decades to
come. This is what happened in Malaysia in 1988 when the head of the Judiciary
was removed on flimsy, fabricated charges and senior judges dismissed.

For all these reasons, institutions which are expected to
preserve and protect values and principles such as truth, justice, integrity
and honesty have not been able to function as well as they should. The
investigations into 1MDB and the 2.6 billion ringgit in the Prime Minister’s
personal bank account which have been hampered and hindered by various moves
and manoeuvers underscore this. In more concrete terms, the PAC has been immobilized.
There is still no action on the report submitted by Bank Negara to the
Attorney-General which called for enforcement. There has been very little
progress in apprehending key individuals wanted in both the 1MDB and 2.6
billion investigations. The Prime Minister has yet to sue the Wall Street
Journal for alleging financial improprieties on his part. Those who are
concerned about integrity in public life are understandably disillusioned about
the whole situation. This may explain why some of them may have sought external
avenues to address the malaise.

There is no doubt at all that foreign actors who are
focusing upon the current controversies in Malaysia have their own agendas.
Given the orientation of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Washington
Post, one is not surprised that they are exploiting the controversies to
achieve their own goals which may include regime change in Putrajaya --- a
possibility which I had alluded to in an article on 17 February 2015. Apart
from Prime Minister Najib Razak’s explicit support for Hamas which has incensed
Israel and its backers in the United States, it is also quite conceivable that
Malaysia’s military cooperation with China reflected in the four day joint
naval exercise between the two nations in the strategic Straits of Melaka from
18 September 2015 --- the biggest that China has conducted with any ASEAN state
--- has upset some circles in Washington D.C. It has also been argued that the
targeting of Najib in the US media may be part of the attempt to ensure that
Malaysia signs up to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement.

Whatever the motives, it is obvious that the Malaysian
government’s acts of commission and omission on 1MDB and the 2.6 billion
ringgit account have provided foreign manipulators with a lot of ammunition to
hit Najib. This is why it is extremely urgent to tell the whole truth. The yet
to be completed report of the Auditor-General which would be the basis for the
reconstituted PAC to finish its work, and the finalization of the MACC’s
investigations, together with Bank Negara’s report which is with the
Attorney-General, should reveal the truth about 1MDB and the 2.6 billion
account. Foreign investigations may also help.

The Malaysian people should send a clear message to our government.
The investigations into the two related controversies should be closed and the
whole truth should be made known to the nation and the world by the end of this
year. To allow the controversies to drag on into 2016 will only bring our
nation to the edge of the precipice.

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar has been writing and speaking on
integrity in public life since the nineteen
seventies.

About Me

Born in Penang, speaks English, Malay, Hokkien & some Tamil. Managing Director and founder of zubedy (m) sdn bhd. Graduated from University Malaya and was in marketing for a multinational before setting up zubedy in 94. www.zubedy.com

Tweets

may 13

Copyright

No part of this blog should be used for commercial purpose. Any party may reproduce or quote materials published with the condition that they are credited to letusaddvalue.blogspot.com thanks, anas

#NoFreeRides

A promise made in 2001

I intend to ADD VALUE to everyone and anything that I come to interact with and make the world a better place.

As this is an unending journey, I will never achieve my dreams … not in their fullest form. They are too far away in the idealistic world... but,

" The quest of truth will set you free, even if you never catch up with it".

I am one of those dreamers who have found a practical formula of living for today (compartmentalization) and try to achieve parts of my dreams a moment at a time, part by part. It is okay to die without achieving all the lofty dreams, as the spirit will be passed on to others, who are dreamers too.

I also plan to be rich, very rich! Not for the money but for the use of money as a platform to help me achieve my ideals. God willing, you will see advertisements in the near future communicating universal values and spirituality by ZUBEDY the Brand. (check out http://www.zubedy.com/) Encourage schools and libraries and sponsor the poor's basic needs of food, shelter and education.

I hope to live to a century or two with healthy living, modern medicine and God's permission. Lead a full life, have many children. But not necessarily sired by me. Travel the world to witness God's creation and be at awe with the creativity that greets us wherever and whenever we turn. I want to smell all the fragrance in the world be it the stink of the squatters in Mumbai or the pleasing scent of devotional flowers at a Balinese lebaran.

And to know that each experience has a purpose which is to ADD VALUE to the living, the dead and the unborn.

Children of Indonesia

Taken on the way to Puncak

Children of Bario

On the way to the only working phone line!

Children of Sabah

On the way to Mersilau

Children of Cambodia

At Angkor Thom

Children of Penang

At Pak Ali's house

Children of the zubedys

my nephews and nieces

Beautiful Women Series

One

Beautiful Women Series

Two

Beautiful Women Series

Three

Beautiful Women Series

Four

Beautiful Women Series

Five

Beautiful Women Series

Six

Let us learn about each other's religion, culture and way of life

We know too little about each other’s traditions, way of life and beliefs.

In fact many amongst us may not even know about our own spiritual traditions, scripture and core religious foundation. Most times we delegate our thinking to our religious teachers and later complain about how they go about doing their job.